Measure and place guides

Read sizes without measuring

Select something and look at Entity info:

• An edge shows its length.
• A face shows its area and how many holes it has.
• Several faces show their total area.
• A group or component shows its size (width × depth × height of the box around it) and, if it is a closed solid, its volume.
• With nothing selected, Entity info shows the size of the whole model.

Lengths and areas use the unit in the picker at the bottom right. A millimeter model shows areas of 0.01 m² and up in square meters (a 4 × 3 m room reads "12 m²").

While you draw, the value box shows the live length, size, radius or distance, so you rarely need to measure afterward.

To change a size after drawing, select an edge or a group and retype its length or size in Entity info. Or place a dimension and type a new length into it.

Measure between two points

1. Press TT for the Tape measure.
2. Click a point: a corner, a midpoint, a point on a face, or the ground. (Clicking an edge does something else; see below.)
3. Move to the second point. The tip and the value box (Length) show the distance. It snaps to points and to the red, green and blue directions.
4. Click. The status bar says "Measured 4' 6"." and a guide point is left at the second point.

To leave the guide point at an exact distance instead, type it after the first click and press ReturnEnter: it goes in the direction you are pointing.

Place a guide line

A guide line is an endless dashed line, parallel to an edge, at a distance you choose. Use guides to lay out a setback, a floor height, or where a window starts.

1. Press TT.
2. Click on an edge (not its end). The tip says "On edge".
3. Move off the edge, to the side the guide should go. A dashed line follows, parallel to the edge, and the value box (Offset) shows the distance.
4. Click, or type the offset and press ReturnEnter: 1.5m, 5'.

The status bar says "Guide line 1.5 m from the edge."

Starting on an existing guide line makes another guide parallel to it, so you can step a grid out from one guide.

If you type an offset without moving off the edge first, ModelCraft cannot tell which side you mean: "Move off the edge first to show which side."

Draw against guides

Drawing tools snap to guide lines ("On guide") and guide points ("Guide point"), and to where a guide line crosses an axis direction. Start a rectangle where two guides cross to place it exactly.

Remove guides

• One guide: click it with Select and press fn DeleteDelete, or click it with the Eraser.
• All guides: with nothing selected, click Delete all guides in Entity info.

Guides are saved in the .modelcraft file. They are not exported to other formats.